Riddle
by CliffieMaster
Summary: 1sentence challenge - Things changed frequently in Wonderland, but there were some things that stayed consistent - tea parties, for instance. ::AliceHatter::


**Fandom**: Alice in Wonderland

**Pairing**: Alice x Mad Hatter

**Theme set**: Gamma

**Title**: Riddle

**Rating**: PG-13

**Warning[s]**: Minor language, sexual innuendoes

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, or any of the characters. This is for entertainment purposes only.

**Notes**: The popularity of Alice x Hatter has really soared lately, thanks to both the new movie and SyFy series; it's quite exciting for me, a lover of the pairing in any form. This particular set is more concerned with the original series, however. Alice is generally a teenager in most of them, so no worries for not being age appropriate. I would say this is along the lines of the lovely WCMI more than anything else. Hope you guys enjoy!

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#01 - Ring

He tried desperately to win her affection day after day, picking flowers (with the dirt still on the roots), offering her candy (that had a mysterious color to it, doubtless from being under his couch so long), nearly forcing a ring on her finger (he had no idea what the idea of a ring meant in her society), and if only he had asked a little nicer, she might have accepted it.

#02 - Hero

"Don't worry, Alice, I'm here to save you!" and he puffed out his chest, his hat askew, looking so utterly ridiculous and so un-savior-like that she couldn't help but smile.

#03 - Memory

Her memories of Wonderland were starting to fade as she reached her teenage years, but the image of him, with his grotesquely large hat and nose and sparkling, devious eyes, never seemed to vanish.

#04 - Box

Alice was used to putting people in boxes; they all fit some idea or another, and it was so nice and organized, but then he just had to waltz back into her life and pull her down that damn rabbit hole again, and he flatly refused to be categorized in the slightest.

#05 - Run

She was a proper lady, and proper ladies did _not_ run, especially after such an improper man - almost a boy, really, the way he acted sometimes - but when he grabbed her hand and made off, not caring about her shrieks of indignation, it became apparent he didn't care what proper ladies did or did not do, and how could she protest that?

#06 - Hurricane

He blew hot air so strongly she sometimes felt like she was going to be completely turned around, but then he would smile, and slip an arm around her waist, and she was grounded once more.

#07 - Wings

"Because without wings, we can't fly," and he wanted to prove exactly how wrong she was, since he flew every time he was merely with her.

#08 - Cold

Sometimes she felt like a queen of ice, untouched by the Wonderland antics; but then she would glance at him, and the look he returned, so grin-big and bright, made her realize she wasn't cold - there was just nothing that could compare with his warmth.

#09 - Red

Red red red everywhere, the Red Queen was magnificent and terrifying, and Alice couldn't help but quail ever-so-slightly behind Hatter; he shifted slightly, barely noticeable, blocking her completely from view.

#10 - Drink

"No way," she stated flatly, ignoring his pleading look, "I'm never drinking something that wants me to ever, ever again."

#11 - Midnight

When he burst into the room she was staying in at exactly midnight, yelling about a midnight tea party, Alice didn't know whether to be exasperated or embarrassed at being caught in her awfully pink, awfully frilly nightgown.

#12 - Temptation

His breath on her ear, warm and sending shivers down her back, his hand hovering over the small of her back, his skin so damn close to her own but not quite touching, drove her crazy; she suspected she would become as mad as he was if something wasn't done about it.

#13 - View

There were many incredible views scattered about Wonderland, some only accessible at the dead of night from the top of the tallest tree in the shortest forest, but Alice always found her eyes wandering back to the Hatter sitting across from her.

#14 - Music

His taste was peculiar - he liked fast steps that made no sense, like everything he did - but the man certainly knew how to waltz, and Alice never felt more at home than when she was in his arms and he was so gently spinning her across the floor.

#15 - Silk

She was exquisite in the plum-colored silk, black lace pulling her hair up to show off her porcelain face, and Hatter thought that he had never seen anyone so beautiful.

#16 - Cover

They take cover from the Jubjub Bird beneath some bushes and colorfully yellow trees, and Hatter looks at her with a wild grin and says, "Isn't this exciting?" and Alice grumbles and pulls her hat lower over her eyes.

#17 - Promise

"Promise you'll be here when I come back?" and he smiles and nods to the child, his heart hurting because he doesn't know if _she_ will ever come back - Wonderland is such a tricksy place, after all - but he would wait for her all the same.

#18 - Dream

Alice knew Wonderland was real because it was composed of dreams and thoughts and imagination in the wildest sense, and even she couldn't have come up all its denizens, especially certain Mad Hatters.

#19 - Candle

Hatter was fairly sure he didn't hold a candle to the suitors that plagued Alice in the other world and it never failed to amaze him that she had chosen _him_, big nose and bigger mouth and still bigger hat and all.

#20 - Talent

The Hatter had the peculiar talent of getting a rise out of Alice with every other word he said (although it was usually exasperation, not true anger, she could never really truly be angry at him), but he also had the gift of smiling at her just right, or kissing her so softly she forgot everything, even her own name.

#21 - Silence

"Oh be quiet!" she snapped at him, red staining her pretty cheeks, and Hatter grinned; half the time he thought he babbled as much as he did just to see that irritation on her face, because she still managed to be so damn pretty, and he liked some fire in his women, yes he did.

#22 - Journey

When he said they were going on a great and fantabulous adventure to strange lands, she wasn't sure whether to ask if there was a place stranger than this or just go along quietly because once he got an idea in his head, he rarely gave it up easily.

#23 - Fire

She was ice when she was irritated, fire when she was truly angry, and he loved to see the heat rise to her cheeks because she looked, if possible, even more beautiful.

#24 - Strength

She was stronger than she thought, but when she lay in his arms, all those defenses melted away and Alice just let herself _be_.

#25 - Mask

The mask that snapped into place over her lovely, porcelain face was enough to let Hatter know he had said something stupid again, and he furiously thought back to their conversation, but nothing popped out at him; after all, in Wonderland saying one smelled like butter was a compliment - he liked butter on his toast, quite a bit in fact.

#26 - Ice

She laughed when he fell, ungainly on the skates she had pilfered for him to try, and skated in neat figure eights around his prone form, not noticing that he sat and watched her for longer than necessary.

#27 - Fall

If she fell for him, she knew she wouldn't be able to get up very easily, if at all, and that scared her more than she was likely to admit - aloud, at any rate - but, when she sat down to think about it - really, truly think about it, not just dismiss it because, well, he wasn't such a bad guy, Hatter, and he was one of her closest friends - she realized there was absolutely no point in thinking about it at all since it was too late anyway; things happening before one realized it seemed a common motif in Wonderland.

#28 - Forgotten

She couldn't forget him if she wanted to, but since she didn't, the point didn't matter one way or another.

#29 - Dance

"Wanna?" he asked, holding out a hand, that absurd grin splitting apart his face, and Alice sighed, slipping her own hand into his and tried not to show how excited she was.

#30 - Body

He still remembered when she had a little girl's body - all flat and angular, no curves, no softness except in the cheeks - but now, dripping wet so her clothes clung to her in all the right places, Hatter could not help but admire the change in her (until she noticed, that is, and he better not look at her like that again damn it).

#31 - Sacred

There was nothing sacred in Wonderland - except, perhaps, for tea parties.

#32 - Farewells

"You'll come back though," he said, and it wasn't a question but a statement, bold and out in the open, just daring for her to disagree, to contradict it, and Alice pressed her lips together and smiled.

#33 - World

"I would give the whole world just to see you smile!" and he always said just the right thing to make her go that cherry red he loved.

#34 - Formal

His tea parties weren't really formal - just a mockery of formality - and he wasn't what she would call a gentleman, but the Hatter still had enough manners to flatter her, in his usual, unassuming, idiotic way.

#35 - Fever

"Just lay down," Alice ordered, pushing him back into the bed, " and I'll take care of you."

#36 - Laugh

He always made her laugh, whether due to his stupidity or silliness or just because he was _funny_ sometimes, and the way he smiled at her when she was laughing made her think he did it all on purpose.

#37 - Lies

Wonderland was all lies and false truths that _looked_ real but weren't, in the end, and whenever she started to get frustrated with it, whenever she thought about never ever coming back, Hatter would smile gently at her, somehow knowing her thoughts, and take her to see some new or old or just strange wonder, and she would forgive the lies yet again, always promising this would be the last time and always knowing it wouldn't be, but maybe she was lying too, because it wasn't the things he took her to see that made her forgive Wonderland.

#38 - Forever

That damn unbirthday song just never ended, but Alice couldn't find it in her to be angry at it, or him for singing it, because it was that very song, in the end, that symbolized them: everything that shouldn't happen, but did, a peculiarity that was made of nonsense but, really, made the most perfect sense in the world.

#39 - Overwhelmed

"I think I need to sit down," she said when she found herself in Wonderland again; but Hatter jumped up with a gleeful shout of "Move DOWN!" and yes, everything was exactly the same as ever.

#40 - Whisper

His lips grazed her ear, oh so gently, a feeling so soft it seemed impossible to actually exist, and she couldn't even begin to quell the shivers that raced through her at his words.

#41 - Wait

Sometimes she had to scramble to keep up with him, always afraid that he would disappear into the wilds of Wonderland, but when she turned the corner he would be standing there, hands in his pockets and a look of indignation on his face, but still waiting for her.

#42 - Talk

To her, it seemed every time they were about to have a good conversation he managed to ruin it, saying something silly at first, asking a riddle second, then kissing her finally, and it was this last movement that made her decide it didn't really matter what they talked about, as long as he was there and his lips were moving, whether or not any sound was coming out of them.

#43 - Search

She looked for the White Rabbit, but he had disappeared _again_; the child sighed and decided she may as well go back to the Tea Party, because even if she didn't get a drop to drink, the occupants were highly entertaining.

#44 - Hope

When she had first slipped into Wonderland, it was with hope that it would never disappear, that she would never grow old enough to stop going; now, even though Wonderland was a place she couldn't understand completely, although the endless mazes and trees and doors and houses drove her crazy when she couldn't figure them out, she still held out a hope that it wouldn't disappear, because then he would too and she wasn't sure she could handle that.

#45 - Eclipse

When she was around - and not in a tiff, he did admit that restriction to himself - she eclipsed the sun, and would do the same with the moon if she ever agreed to take a moonlight stroll with him.

#46 - Gravity

He helped her defy gravity.

#47 - Highway

"So is there a lowway, then?" and she grinned a devilish grin, trying not to giggle because her mind shouldn't be turning to such dirty thoughts, but it was nice to be the naughty one for once while the Hatter looked innocently on.

#48 - Unknown

She would never know the answer to that damn riddle, and she was fairly certain there wasn't an answer to begin with, but Hatter insisted on asking her periodically, never satisfied with the exasperated look she gave him.

#49 - Lock

She swore her heart was locked away and the key was safely hidden, but the first time he smiled at her the lock rusted a little, and every day she spent with him further deteriorated it until it was held together with sheer willpower that disintegrated when he finally kissed her, so gently it hurt, so wonderfully she didn't even notice that the lock was gone.

#50 - Breathe

When she returned, a veritable young lady (a _proper_ lady, as she insisted), with an attitude and straight back and chin titled high, he knew he would have trouble getting the whimsical part of her out again, but manage he did; it was when she was in that fancy, black-buttoned dress of hers, sitting in the middle of a mud puddle and laughing because, well, there really wasn't another choice it was laugh or cry and he had warned her ahead of time he couldn't deal with tears - it was then, when she wasn't a proper lady at all but just Alice, _his_ Alice... it was then that she stole his breath and his heart and he realized he would have given her all his tea, should she only ask, and for the Mad Hatter, that was a pretty big deal indeed.


End file.
